Archive for September, 2015

Last time we introduced Gaspard-Gustave de Coriolis’ formula to compute kinetic energy. Today we’ll use it to determine the speed of descent, or velocity, of the coffee mug we’ve been watching closely in the last few blogs. To calculate the mug’s velocity, we must bear in mind physicist Julius Robert von Mayer’s assertion that all forms of energy are interrelated, and in fact interchangeable, because energy can neither be created nor destroyed, it can only change forms. For a refresher, see The Law of Conservation of Energy.

Let’s now put a practical spin on this concept and apply it to our coffee mug’s free fall to the floor. Once again, de Coriolis’ formula,

KE = ½ × m × v2 (1)

where m is the mass of our falling object and v its velocity. The ½ is an unchanging, constant term that’s present due to the mathematical Rules of Integration governing integral calculus. Calculus and its derivations are beyond the scope of this blog, but if you’re interested in pursuing this, follow this link to, The Physics Hypertextbook – Kinetic Energy.

According to von Mayer’s Law, at the precise instant before the mug hits the floor its kinetic energy, KE, is equal to the potential energy, PE, it possessed when it rested passively on the shelf. Stated another way, the instant before the mug makes contact with the floor, all its potential energy will have been converted into kinetic.

The mug’s PE was calculated previously to be equal to 4.9 kg • meter2/second2. See Computing Potential Energy for a review. Knowing this, the mathematical relationship between the mug’s potential and kinetic energies is expressed as,

PE = KE = 4.9 kg • meter2/second2 (2)

By substituting this mathematical representation for KE into equation (1) we arrive at,

4.9 kg • meter2/second2 = ½ × m × v2 (3)

We also know the mug’s mass, m, to be equal to 2.6 kilograms, so integrating that into the right side of equation (3) it becomes,

4.9 kg • meter2/second2 = ½ ×( 0.25kg)× v2 (4)

That leaves the mug’s velocity, v2, as the only remaining unknown term. We’ll use algebra to isolate this variable by dividing both sides of equation (4) by ½ ×( 0.25kg).

(4.9 kg • meter2/second2) ÷ [½ ×( 0.25kg)] = v2

39.20 meter2/second2= v2

Finally, we’ll take the square root of the equation to place it in terms of v.

6.26 meters/second= v

The mug’s velocity an instant before impact equates to 6.26 meters/second, or almost 21 feet per second.

Next time we’ll discuss a metric unit used to measure energy known as the Joule and discover the man behind it.

Last time we introduced kinetic energy as the energy of movement. Today we’ll see how to calculate it, using French mathematician Gaspard-Gustave de Coriolis’ formula as set out in his textbook, Calculation of the Effect of Machines. We’ll then apply his formula to our example of a coffee mug falling from its shelf.

Gaspard-Gustave de Coriolis’ book presented physics concepts, specifically the study of mechanics, in an accessible manner, without a lot of highbrow theory and complicated mathematics. His insights made complicated subjects easy to understand, and they were immediately put to use by engineers of his time, who were busily designing mechanical devices like steam engines during the early stages of the Industrial Revolution.

Within its pages the mathematics of kinetic energy was presented in the scientific form that persists to present day. That formula is,

KE = ½ × m × v2

where m is the moving object’s mass and v its velocity.

In the case of our coffee mug, its kinetic energy will be zero so long as it remains motionless on the shelf. A human arm had lifted it to its perch against the force of gravity, thereby investing it with gravitational potential energy. If the mug was sent freefalling to the ground by the mischievous kitty, its latent potential energy would be realized and converted into the kinetic energy of motion.

To illustrate, let’s say a mug with a mass equal to 0.25 kg rests on a shelf 2 meters above the floor. Its potential energy would then be equal to 4.9 kg • meter2/second2, as was computed in our previous blog, Computing Potential Energy.

Once kitty nudges the mug from its perch and it begins to fall, its latent gravitational potential energy begins a conversion process from potential to kinetic energy. It will continue to convert into an amount of kinetic energy that’s precisely equal to the mug’s potential energy while at rest on the shelf, that is, 4.9 kg • meter2/second2. Upon impact with the floor, all the mug’s gravitational potential energy will have been converted into kinetic energy.

Next time we’ll apply the Law of Conservation of Energy to the potential and kinetic energy formulas to calculate the mug’s velocity as it freefalls to the floor.

Last time we introduced The Law of Conservation of Energy, which holds that energy can neither be created nor destroyed. We then applied the concept to a mug resting on a shelf, brimming with latent gravitational potential energy. Today we’ll continue our discussion with a focus on kinetic energy and how Willem Gravesande’s experimentation contributed to our understanding of the subject.

The concept of kinetic energy was first posited by mathematicians Gottfried Leibniz and Johann Bernoulli in the early 18th Century when they theorized that the energy of a moving object is a factor of its mass and speed. Their theory was later proven by Willem Gravesande, a Dutch lawyer, philosopher, and scientist.

Gravesande conducted experiments in which he dropped identical brass balls into a soft clay block. See Figure 1.

Figure 1

Figure 1 shows the results obtained when balls of the same mass m are dropped from various heights, resulting in different velocities as they fall and different clay penetrations. The ball on the left falls at velocity v and penetrates to a depth d. The center ball falls at twice the left ball’s velocity, or 2v, and penetrates four times as deep, or 4d. The right ball falls at three times the left ball’s velocity, 3v, and it penetrates nine times deeper, 9d. The results indicate an exponential increase in clay penetration, dependent on the balls’ speed of travel.

In fact, all the kinetic energy that the balls exhibited during freefall was converted into mechanical energy from the instant they impacted the clay until their movement within it stopped. This change in forms of energy from kinetic to mechanical demonstrates what Julius Robert von Mayer had in mind when he derived his Law of Conservation of Energy. For a refresher on the subject, see last week’s blog, The Law of Conservation of Energy.

As a result of his experimentation, Gravesande was able to conclude that the kinetic energy of all falling objects is a factor of their mass multiplied by their velocity squared, or m × v2.

We’ll see next time how Gravesande’s work paved the way for later scientists to devise the actual formula used to calculate kinetic energy and then we’ll apply it all to our coffee mug falling from the shelf.

Last time we calculated the potential energy hidden within a coffee mug resting on a shelf. The concept of a passive object possessing energy may not be something all readers can identify with, but the secret behind that mug’s latent energy lies within TheLaw of Conservation of Energy, the topic we’ll be discussing today.

Julius Robert von Mayer, a German physicist of the mid 19th Century, is the man behind the Law. He posited that energy cannot be created or destroyed, it can only be transferred from one object to another or converted from one form of energy to another. Forms of energy include potential, kinetic, heat, chemical, mechanical, and electrical, all of which have the ability to become another form of energy.

Let’s take our coffee mug for example. Where did its potential energy come from? Ultimately, from the radiant energy emitted by the sun. The sun’s radiant energy was absorbed by plants and then converted to chemical energy through the process of photosynthesis, enabling them to grow. When they were later eaten by humans and other animals, the plants’ chemical energy became incorporated into their bodies’ cells, including the arm muscles used to lift the mug to the shelf.

In the act of lifting the cup, the arm’s muscle cells converted their own chemical energy into mechanical energy. And because lifting a mug to a shelf is work, for some of us greater than others, some of the arm’s chemical energy became heat energy which was lost to the environment.

Because of the elevated perch provided to the mug by the arm, which was in direct defiance of Earth’s gravitational pull, the arm muscles’ mechanical energy was transferred to the mug and converted to latent potential energy, because without that shelf to support it, the mug would fall to the ground. The mug’s potential energy would realize its full potential if it should be sent crashing to the floor, at which time it would become another form of energy. The mischievous orange kitty seems to have just that in mind.

We’ll talk more about the mug’s potential energy being converted to other forms next time.